


If Only One Of Us Should Survive

by Walkerbaby



Series: HAMILTON SHORT STORIES AND ONE SHOTS [7]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Historical AU, M/M, george is being noble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 07:12:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11754720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Walkerbaby/pseuds/Walkerbaby
Summary: George knows that most of them will not make it out of Valley Forge alive. But if he can only save one person he has no doubts who it will be.





	If Only One Of Us Should Survive

**Author's Note:**

> one of the tumblr one shots

He had to have heard him wrong. It was a delusion. 

George reached down to pinch himself. Surely he was losing his mind. It was the war and the violence and the stress. It was watching men starving and freezing and dying covered in shit. It was knowing that while his men were going to bed with empty bellies the British were carousing in Philadelphia and going home to warm beds with willing young women. 

“Please don’t make me go, Sir,” Alex had whispered. 

“Colonel Hamilton, this isn’t a request,” he’d snapped. Didn’t the other man see? They were dying. Dying. The troops wouldn’t make it through the winter. The food had run out and they were slaughtering the horses. Their end had come. They had a few days at most. Soon the British would realize just how low their supplies were and they’d march out of Philadelphia and they’d end this rebellion once and for all. 

They were going to die here in this valley. The ground was going to be slick with their blood and they’d take George and his aides. They’d round up the officers and they’d put them in chains. The enlisted men they’d slaughter where they stood but the officers? They would be marched in chains to New York and loaded into boats to be taken back to London and tried for treason. 

It wouldn’t be enough to put down the rebellion. King George would have to make an example of them. It would be the rack and the noose and only after they’d all suffered a traitors death with the gutter rats of London baying for their blood and their heads on pikes on London Bridge, only then would the rebellion be over. Only then would King George be safe. 

Because when one holds an empire one must be ruthless. Rebellion cannot be tolerated. And rebels? Rebels must be dealt with harshly to prevent others from thinking they could rebel as well. 

They were going to die. 

But Alex? There was a ship heading to France. He could get Alex onto that ship and Alex would be safe. Alex would live. 

And if God would give George that then he could endure anything else that came his way. He could take the torture and the quartering. He’d take the noose around his neck choking him til near death and the pain of them cutting his manhood away. The bite of the knife into his guts. The axe at his neck. He could endure that as long as he knew that Alex was safe. 

“Please.” Alex whispered. “I love you. Don’t send me away.” 

His throat was dry as he stared at the other man. 

“Even if I repulse you, and I know I must, please, let me stay and serve you. I’ll do whatever you ask. I don’t know how you suspected my feelings before but I promise I will never burden you with them. I know that you don’t feel the same—” 

“I do,” George whispered. 

“But I—” Alex stopped and stared at him. “What?” 

“I said I do love you,” George repeated. “That is why I’m sending you away.” 

“But…” 

“I love you,” George repeated. “And because I love you I cannot let you die here with me. We are out of food and the weather is turning colder and the British will be here soon and we will die and…” 

“Then I will stay and die beside you,” Alex said as he grabbed George’s hands. “I will stay and I will fight and with the last breathe of my body I will whisper your name. The last beat of my heart will belong to you.” 

“No.” George shook his head. “Go to France. Let me help you escape. If you go then you’ll reach the port and sail to France and Lafayette, he’ll make sure you’re taken care of. He’ll find you a place in his household. Or set you up as a merchant. A secretary to a government official.” 

“But…” 

“If I must die here, let me do it knowing that I have saved you.” 

“How am I supposed to live without you?” Alex asked. “I don’t want to live without you.” 

“I know.” George stared at him. “But I must ask you to do so regardless.”

“But—” 

“I cannot die with honor if I am worried about you,” George whispered. “Unless I know that you are safe I cannot die as I ought.” 

“Then come with me,” Alex begged. “Come away with me and we’ll both be safe.” 

“They’ll hunt me.” 

“But…” 

“Please.” He pulled the other man close and pressed his lips against Alexander’s. This once wouldn’t hurt. If this is the last time he saw the other man on this side of the veil then one kiss would not damn him more than his thoughts about the other man already had. 

He felt Alex sob into the kiss and wrap his hands around George’s lapels, pulling him closer. “Please,” Alex whispered. “I do not want to live without you.” 

“Oh my love,” George whispered. “My love, you must.” 

He stepped away from Alex and pointed toward the flap of his tent. “This is my final order for you Colonel Hamilton. You are to travel to New York and board the Genevieve. Then you are to sail to France. And once there, you are to live. You are to marry and have children and grow very old Alexander. And if I find you in Paradise before you are a very old man I shall be very angry that you have not obeyed my orders.” 

“Sir.” Alexander whispered, his eyes wide, tears streaming down his cheeks. 

He turned briskly on his heel and hurried out of the tent. 

George stayed still as he heard the horses ride out of camp and then sagged back against his desk. 

The British would come and they would die. Their cause was lost. 

But Alex? Alex would live. His love would live. And he found that fact alone made everything else that he was about to endure. 


End file.
